# Eliminate one social science
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [July 4, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222 "2012-07-04T16:00:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/21 "2012-07-05T15:15:48Z")
> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> Wow, tough question. I’m going to go with my gut here and say psychology. Not because it isn’t a very important field, but because I believe that there’s a significant percentage of psych students who enter the field because they actually need tons of therapy.
>
> I say we round up the psych majors, and the sane ones go to med school, the troubled ones are redirected to English and individual therapy.
Interesting. What percentage, would you say, need tons of therapy? Also, do you think psychiatry and psychology are the same? Who do you imagine would provide the individual therapy you’re talking about without psychology? Who would be evaluating the effectiveness of those therapies?
---
### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/22 "2012-07-05T15:36:43Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#):
>
> Interesting. What percentage, would you say, need tons of therapy?
I’m not sure. But I can tell you for certain that the most seriously screwed up people at my college tended to gravitate to the psych department. Feel free to dismiss my experience – I readily admit that anecdote is not the singular of data – but it seems that [others](http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200909/why-shrinks-have-problems) have pointed this out about their profession:
> [@Psychology Today article](#):
>
> And a 1992 survey of male and female therapists found that more than two-thirds of the women and one-third of the men reported having experienced some form of sexual or physical abuse in early life. Freud seems to have been right about this one: The mental health professions attract people who have suffered.
> [@](#):
>
> Also, do you think psychiatry and psychology are the same? Who do you imagine would provide the individual therapy you’re talking about without psychology? Who would be evaluating the effectiveness of those therapies?
They are obviously not. ETA: And I am obviously not advocating the elimination of the profession. But off the cuff, if psychology were to be eliminated as a field of study in college, to have the courses merged with the field of health care rather than telling people interested in psychology that they now need to study some other liberal art or hard science. If you have suggestions on what people interested in psychology should study if that department were eliminated, I’m all ears.
---
### Author:  [@mister\_nyx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_nyx)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2012, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/23 "2012-07-06T05:00:52Z")
Calling psychology a social science is a huge stretch.
I voted political science, as much as I am a fan thereof, just because, well, it doesn’t seem like it’s done as much for us as sociology or economics. I’m suspecting sociology is going to get the cut but it really shouldn’t.
And yeah, as someone earlier said, future lawyers. It’s not like there’s some lawyer deficit as it is.
[QUOTE=Qin Shi Huangdi]
Among those choices, sociology but preferably gender studies.
[/QUOTE]
:rolleyes:
[QUOTE=JKellyMap]
Thanks for not including “geography” as a choice for elimination.
I’d go with “sociology”. The best sociologists might as well call themselves human geographers, and a lot of good “sociology” is already being done by people who already are geographers.
[/QUOTE]
:rolleyes:
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222.md?page=1)